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Arnt Eriksen // Simplifying the Complexity of Marketing and CommunicationSat, 17 Jan 2015 10:52:33 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.10The New Economy: Big Datahttp://arnteriksen.co/2015/01/the-new-economy-big-data/
http://arnteriksen.co/2015/01/the-new-economy-big-data/#commentsSat, 17 Jan 2015 10:52:33 +0000http://arnteriksen.co/?p=758This equality is also carried along by collaboration of a different sort; Elance, while normally expecting one client to hire one worker, also allows for the creation of groups of workers for various purposes. These groups can be formed by either the client or the worker – the client may advertise that s\he is looking for several workers to collaborate together on a project, or individual workers may come together in order to offer their collective services out to the wider audience of clients on the site. In either case, the equality is present because the workers are equals to one another and would presumably support each other in the work they have been hired to do, whether that work takes place on exactly the same level, with both workers as writers or as a mini-organisation wherein one worker acts strictly as a writer while the other acts as an editor.

Collaboration between companies and workers gives a new edge to the data available to sites such as Elance, and companies such as American Express, as it gives them what have been labelled ‘economic clusters’ or ‘peer-to-peer collaboration’ to analyse for new information on how these companies\workers and their customers operate. To go back to the original blog post that inspired this series, by collaborating with Uber, American Express now has more access to data on the movements of their customers, and could use this as a springboard for launching more customer initiatives, either on their own or in collaboration with yet more companies.

Big data, as this is known, is not necessarily more data on individual people; it generally involves the same amount of data, but simply on a greater number of people than before. American Express would not have data on a greater number of people than before, because the offer was only open to people who already had a card with them; they would just have more data on those specific people to work with. To give an example, UPS has recently been using big data to upgrade and improve on their vehicle use – since the data gathered from UPS trucks includes the braking time, average speed, miles covered, fuel consumption and so on, the company was able to take that information and use it to reduce the miles covered, thereby saving both fuel and money. They are currently employing the same technique on the flights they run per day, hoping to perhaps have the same results.

The UPS example is one where a single company utilises its own resources in order to accumulate big data. Economic clusters allow for a greater variety of data from a greater variety of sources, as can be seen to great effect on the Airbnb website, where the information provided by quite literally thousands of people is used not only to facilitate the experience of the other site users on an individual basis (through the use of reviews and profiles, for example) but also to help the site as a whole by using those experiences when writing the articles in their help centre (how-to’s, recommendations and so on) and writing their neighbourhood guides for various locations.

While Airbnb is, to a degree, a self-selecting environment for the people using it, big data also comes into play in the economic clusters of Owyang, which brings us back to the beginning of this series: cluster collaborations allow not only for the sharing of resources, but also for the sharing of information. If UPS can overhaul its shipping services to such a great extent using only the information it can glean from itself, imagine what a group of businesses can do if they share their data.

]]>http://arnteriksen.co/2015/01/the-new-economy-big-data/feed/0Engagement Marketinghttp://arnteriksen.co/2014/08/engagement-marketing/
http://arnteriksen.co/2014/08/engagement-marketing/#commentsSun, 24 Aug 2014 15:04:28 +0000http://arnteriksen.co/?p=699Engagement marketing, also known as experiential marketing, event marketing, live marketing or participation marketing, is different in that it actively invites ‘audience participation’ – as it were – and offers a situation where prospects are in the position of making the first move when it comes to becoming customers of a specific brand, thus beginning the process of building a relationship with the brand in question.

Rather than focusing on advertising and selling a product or service, a company which is using engagement marketing will use a variety of techniques to bring prospects and customers closer to the brand as a whole, which would hopefully begin to build a relationship between the two, and potential brand loyalty in the future. The use of what I will call ‘give-and-take’ marketing is key here: inviting people to subscribe to newsletters; having a blog which customers can comment on and discuss new developments with the company and with each other; and engaging with social marketing for the same purpose are all key elements of creating an environment where prospects and customers feel like they are developing an attachment to a specific company.

There could be parallels drawn between this type of marketing and content marketing, since they both leave behind elements of traditional marketing in an attempt to bring customers to their brand via a focus on the customer themselves, rather than the product or service which is the drive behind the marketing campaign. The difference between these two styles of marketing is that content marketing does at least make reference to the product it is marketing, however obliquely (as seen in the Ford Mustang ad), while engagement marketing often leaves the product out of its advertising campaigns altogether in favour of beginning the engagement with prospects and customers for which it is named.

To explain engagement marketing in greater depth, I will be looking at the advertising campaigns of Volkswagen and Budweiser respectively and discussing the approaches they take to engaging potential customers with their brand.

In 2012, Volkswagen, to advertise their new range, came out with an advert featuring a little boy dressed up as Darth Vader attempting to use the Force on various household objects and pets. None of his attempts to use the Force work – he can’t even persuade the family dog to stand up – until his father comes home in the new Volkswagen Passat! It is revealed quickly that the flashing of the car lights was down to the boy’s father locking the doors, but clearly mini-Darth believes that he has control over the Force!

Note that the actual product does not make an appearance until almost half way through the advert – the marketing strategy, following engagement marketing rules, is focusing on creating a rapport with prospects who are looking to buy a car and existing customers who have bought Volkswagens in the past. Focusing on the young, professional looking couple with their adorable mini-Darth is a way of engaging with and drawing in that particular market is a marked contrast to the normal way of marketing\describing cars in terms of their speed and new features, which may have the potential to turn away prospects looking for a family car.

A key aspect of engagement marketing is leaving prospects in a position where the final decision on whether or not to engage with the services and products on offer is in their hands, and that is where this advert fits in very neatly. The presence of the family lays down the suggestion that people who fit this demographic may want to invest in the type of car being advertised, as well as using the situation to subtly highlight that it is quite a good family car.

This aspect of engagement marketing is also seen in the 2014 advert for Budweiser, featuring a puppy and some Clydesdales, where the underlying theme is not to let go of something (in this case beer, as represented by the puppy) that you love.

This advert is interesting because the product which is ostensibly being advertised is not present at all, or (to take another point of view), is only present by proxy: the Clydesdales. This is engagement marketing to the max, since it relies entirely on people’s interpretations of what the advert is actually trying to say. This can backfire, as seen by one commenter on the Youtube thread who assumed that the advert was about Labrador adoption, but the comments themselves prove that the engagement marketing style used is working, since they are interacting with each other.

One again, the style of this advert leaves the ultimate decision up to the customer, while taking various steps towards making their brand memorable – the popular song, ensuring that people would think of the advert every time they heard it, and the cuteness of the interactions between puppy and horse which would make people smile when they remembered it.

]]>http://arnteriksen.co/2014/08/engagement-marketing/feed/0The New Economy: Scoring Customershttp://arnteriksen.co/2014/07/the-new-economy-scoring-customers-2/
http://arnteriksen.co/2014/07/the-new-economy-scoring-customers-2/#commentsTue, 29 Jul 2014 10:54:37 +0000http://arnteriksen.co/?p=702An economy cluster is when a group of companies – usually ones who share similar goals or technology – come together to share the local resources and form alliances.

To take an example from Jeremiah Owyang, several weeks ago a deal was brokered between Uber (a San Francisco-based transportation network) and Amex (American Express) to allow the two companies to share financial data, and also to allow them to launch a new initiative involving the use of Amex cards and loyalty points within the transportation networks of Uber. As well as providing a new and convenient (and potentially money-saving) method of payment to customers, the new collaboration between the two companies allows them to share information.

It is a theory that economic clustering can lead to growth in the economy as a whole, since the sharing is not limited to local resources, but also to “buyer-supplier relationships, turnover…joint marketing, training, or research initiatives, associations, and lobbying.” Unfortunately, economic clustering can also lead to the so-called ‘pirating’ of employees between the companies, a danger which increases if the companies involved in the cluster work in fields which are either the same or closely related.

What can definitely be said about economic clusters is that the phenomenon allows for the accumulation of data on a scale which is not usually possible, due to the collaboration between businesses which quite possibly (particularly if they are local) will share the same customers.

What can possibly be said about collaborative economic clusters is that they are unique in the field of business collaboration because they can quite often be undertaken on a very personal level. Take Airbnb and Elance as examples: rather than have the collaboration take place specifically between two or more businesses, the website is set up in such a way as to enable individuals on both sides of the business divide (travellers and hosts for Airbnb/clients and workers for Elance) to advocate for themselves and their own needs, by allowing them their own individual space to outline what they can offer, whether that be a profile for workers to describe their achievements and talents for all interested parties, or a post for clients to outline their needs and the needs of the job they have on offer.

One last interesting point about business to business or indeed direct person to person collaboration is that it somehow allows for a more equal exchange to take place than is usual in business interactions. In the starting paragraph, I mentioned the collaboration between American Express and Uber, where Express card points could be used to pay for public transport. This is a particularly good example of collaboration, as it represents an entirely equal exchange of goods and services between the two parties – American express customers get to pay for travel with their points, and in exchange, Uber will provide American Express with a pool of potential new customers when they learn about the new transport deal.

In a similar way, Airbnb features an equality between people seeking accommodation and people offering accommodation because while the space or quality of the accommodation may differ (the website offers potential users a choice of shared room\single room\entire house listings), all users of the site are assumed to be private homeowners, allowing people to enter into dialogue with people who are their equals.

One thing is certain. The traditional way of doing business is rapidly changing. It is being challenged and disrupted by the more forward thinking and innovative brands and persons willing to challenge the status quo – instead of resting their laurels on the convenience of the present.

]]>http://arnteriksen.co/2014/07/the-new-economy-scoring-customers-2/feed/0Cross-Channel Marketinghttp://arnteriksen.co/2014/07/cross-channel-marketing/
http://arnteriksen.co/2014/07/cross-channel-marketing/#commentsTue, 29 Jul 2014 10:26:23 +0000http://arnteriksen.co/?p=695According to wordstream.com, the most common technological pairings for this kind of marketing are:

Computer / Mobile

TV / Mobile

Computer / TV

Radio / Mobile

Computer / Radio

Of course, these pairings don’t remain static – a business may use a computer/mobile pairing during normal business hours, and then switch to TV/mobile in the evening to be able to hold onto their target demographic as they move from work mode to relaxation mode.

Cross-channel marketing is increasingly becoming more and more digitalised, particularly with the proliferation of social networking site which allow for interaction between staff and customers in real-time, but there is still a place for offline marketing, as is shown by the continued use of order catalogues by retailers such as Victoria’s Secret (which sends 375 million catalogues out per year) and strategically placed advertising posters and billboards as used by Starbucks in order to advertise their new and seasonal products.

Burberry is perhaps the best example of digital marketing available to us at the moment – as well as the main website, Burberry has profiles on nearly every social networking platform that exists, from Facebook to Pinterest, as a means of expanding its customer base and service – the Twitter account for Burberry displays the handle for customer service and tells customers that they can contact them for twenty four hour service.

As well as offering more ways for customers to contact them, social networking platforms also offer various retailers such as Burberry, Victoria’s Secret and Starbucks the ability to show off their new products using the picture features in those platforms.

Victoria’s Secret is a lot like Burberry – it has a main website, various social networking platforms such as Facebook and Instagram with which to interact with customers and disseminate information about sales, new lines, etc. It also has a dedicated Youtube channel, where it stores all the advertising videos for its latest designs along with interviews with the models.

The use of the Youtube channel is where Victoria’s Secret differs in its marketing approach to Burberry – where Burberry mainly uses its channel to promote its clothing line and post videos of events that customers may be interested in and market themselves through those mediums, Victoria’s Secret seems to use the channel as a means to market a lifestyle as portrayed by the models – customers who buy and wear Victoria’s Secret may be seen as so sexy and beautiful that they too may become famous models!

Starbucks is potentially unique among the three businesses I am looking at in this post because it is the only one using dynamic offline marketing in its cross-channel marketing approach. This is perhaps mainly because Starbucks trades in perishable goods such as cakes and coffee, but also most likely because the items in question cost less and are available for a much shorter length of time.

As well as its normal range of coffees available all year round, Starbucks offers a range of seasonally-appropriate coffees as well, such as gingerbread lattes at Christmas time. To promote this, it normally uses all the social networking platforms it is currently involved in, as well as posters put up in and around their locations. The use of a mix of on- and offline marketing shows us another strength of cross-channel marketing – the marketing chosen by Starbucks has an immediacy to it that suits the nature of the product they are selling, which is something that other forms of marketing such as videos could not provide.

Cross-channel marketing is ultimately about supporting and promoting the company it represents, by whatever means used. No matter what form of technological pairing is used in the marketing campaign, it will always link back to the main product\website\retail company in some way – the social networking platforms of Starbucks, for one example, all offer links to the main website, and Facebook at least gives its users the opportunity to find the Starbucks location nearest to them via Google Maps.

It is important to remember that this type of marketing is particularly effective for companies who wish to make use of non-technological marketing methods, such as catalogues and posters. We’ve already seen this in the case of Starbucks use of promotional campaigns via posters. Their use of posters in and around the entrance to their locations is possibly the best method of promoting new drinks, since the customers themselves have done the majority of the work which is normally the province of marketing themselves: presumably they are entering the location because they want to buy coffee in some form or other – the posters advertising new drinks are thus in a prime location to persuade these customers to try the new drink on offer.

That is one way in which offline marketing can link back to the original product, in much the same way as technological marketing does. The other way involves using offline marketing such as a catalogue – rather than simply allowing customers to order clothes via the catalogue or the phone, with no reference to the primary website or retail location, the catalogue could\should involve deals and special sales which can only be accessed via either the retail location or the website, depending on which sales outlet is the primary site for the company.

While other styles of marketing are, as we have seen, highly effective in their own ways, cross-channel marketing is perhaps the only one which accords the same importance to offline marketing methods (posters and catalogues, to continue the examples of this post) as it does to the various online methods which exist. This could perhaps lead us to the conclusion that cross-channel marketing is the best method of marketing yet.

As noted in the previous blog post, success in movement marketing is more often dependent on a business model which appears to work backwards from the normal marketing model – instead of having the product featured front and centre, with marketing materials constructed and arranged in a manner which will best highlight it, movement marketing puts the product last in favour of finding a movement or a cause which is championed by a large chunk of society, and then finding a product which will fit in with that cause, just as Blake Mycoskie, the founder of TOMS shoes did with his business.

Sometimes, however, companies approach movement marketing from the opposite direction – with the product still placed proudly front and centre in all their decisions. These companies, such as Levi’s and American Express, have both created their own successful cultural movement which has their own product(s) placed in the centre as something that is needed in order to become part of the movement, which is the case with Levi’s, as seen below.

Levi’s adverts, particularly for its jeans lines, are movement marketing almost to a fault. The 2011 advert for Levi’s had the tagline Go Forth, highlighting that Levi’s jeans, and therefore by extension the people wearing those jeans, where adventure-seeking go-getters! By creating a cultural movement wherein people who follow a certain lifestyle (which is implied by the 2011 advert at least to be outside of mainstream culture) and are not afraid of showing wear a specific item of clothing, in this case Levi’s jeans, the company have managed to create a movement which would allow them to sell their products.

The 2011 advert features people wearing the jeans while doing things like attending a street festival, facing down riot police and kissing underwater. Their marketing campaign effectively reaches people from both sides of the movement, since their products will now be used by the people already covered by the new movement created by Levi’s and also by people who want to become more involved in the movement, and therefore buy the product.

The Small Business Saturday as conceived by American Express is an interesting use of movement marketing in that there doesn’t seem to be a tangible endpoint (i.e. a product) in sight. Perhaps American Express has the ultimate goal of bringing more people into its own sphere of influence through use of the American Express Credit card, but when it comes down to it, there is no direct product behind their marketing campaign.

Small Business Saturday was initially thought up as an antidote to Black Friday, with its focus on big box retailers, to make people more aware of small business in the local are or online. American Express marketed it very heavily through a range of social media and traditional marketing avenues, even co-opting the already existing hashtags #smallbusinesssaturday that existed on Twitter. Since this movement has been growing in popularity, many small businesses have begun to put on sales and discounts to take advantage of the increased business.

This is, however, movement marketing as it was fundamentally supposed to be, since the entire reasoning behind this method of marketing is to rocket brands to new heights while championing a cause or two and being socially responsible. Blake Mycoskie references social responsibility quite heavily when he talks about his motives for the business, so perhaps American Express is championing small businesses as part of their contribution of being socially responsible.